Identity Crisis
by Deliwiel
Summary: An undercover operation soon turns a little more deadly when our favorite blond spy suffers from a case of mistaken identity, and it's up to his friends to find him before it's too late. Rated T for injury and paranoia's sake.
1. Chapter 1

_**Heeeeey! I'm back! I said I would be :D**_

 _ **Once again, sorry for going AWOL for so long there. I was working on a contest for an internship at CBS, so basically all my time was devoted to that. *crosses fingers* I hope I got in!**_

 _ **Anyway, here is a multichap that I've been working on, and I'd love to know what you guys think :)**_

 _ **Constructive**_ _ **criticism is always welcome, flames are not :)**_

 _ **I do not own the characters.**_

MacGyver ran through the large house, ducking as a ninja star impaled the wall next to his head. He clutched the small statuette in his arms like a football. "Jack, any time now would be great!"

There was no answer, but out of nowhere, there was a loud _thud_ and a grunt, and Mac took a chance to look behind him. Jack had come out from around a corner and bowled into the man chasing his young partner. The ninja star-throwing attacker was now on the ground, unmoving. Jack hauled the unconscious man up and dumped him on a nearby couch.

"C'mon," Jack said cockily as he walked over to Mac. "Let's get outta here before his other ninja buddies can find out you took that." Jack nodded to the small statuette in Mac's arms. The two of them made their way out to the front of the building, where their car was waiting.

"Matty, we're on our way to exfil, and the package is secure," Jack announced.

"Can't wait to change," Mac muttered as he pulled off his tux jacket and wrapped the statue with it.

"Don't ditch the outfit just yet, Mac," Matty replied. "You're not quite done with it."

"Wh—is there another part of the mission we missed?" The hint of desperation didn't go unnoticed by Matty.

"Don't worry Blondie, you don't have to be male model anymore," she assured him. "But you still need the tux. We've got another mission."

"We haven't even finished this one technically," Jack complained.

"Oh, I'm sorry that the world doesn't stop needing you to do your jobs just because you're tired or slow," Matty shot back sarcastically. "Now, if you want to keep your jobs, get your butts back here so I can brief you on the new mission. This is a favor being called in by the director of Homeland Security," she added.

Mac and Jack shared a look and a silent sigh. If the director of Homeland Security was calling in a favor from Matty, it had to be important.

"We'll be there as soon as we can," Mac promised.

 _0-0-0_

"A few hours ago, the plans and codes to one of the country's stealth satellites was stolen. A friend of mine back at Homeland Security has asked that I send in my best team."

"Aw, I'm honored you think we're your best team, Matty," Jack said, placing his hand over his heart.

"Who said you guys were my first choice?"

Jack was ninety-nine percent sure that Matty was kidding, but he knew you could never be a hundred percent sure when it came to her, so he shut his mouth.

Mac chuckled at the confused look on his partner's face. Matty notice it as well.

"Oh, calm down Dalton," she said in exasperation. "Can I continue with the briefing, or do we need to nurse your ego a little more?"

"No ma'am," Jack replied, shaking his head. "We are clear to go."

"As I was saying," Matty continued, turning away from Jack. "We need to get those satellite codes back. Fortunately, our man doesn't seem to be that patient; the codes have already gone up on the deep web. We identified the buyers, and HomeSec is picking them up as we speak."

"So we got the buyers, but not the seller?" Mac confirmed.

"Correct. However, our buyers are willing to talk if they can get a deal. Homeland is willing to make that deal, as is Phoenix."

"So why can't Homeland handle this?" Jack asked.

"Our satellite codes were just stolen. That's not something people want leaking out. We operate more in the shadows, and Robert knows that. So he called in a favor."

The group was content with the answer, and they moved on.

"So what do we have to do?" Riley asked.

"We're going to go in, talk with the prisoners, and see what they can tell us. They know their deal depends completely on the information they give us, so I'm thinking they'll give us good intel. Mac, Riley, you two are going to go undercover on this mission as the buyers, so pay attention when we go in."

With that, Matty turned and walked out of the war room, followed by the group. They made their way to interrogation, and when Matty opened the door, there was a man and a woman sitting behind a table. They were both secured down with a pair of cuffs, and while the guy looked nervous, the woman looked confidant.

"Guys, meet Vadim and Veronika Borchek," Matty introduced. "Why don't you two go ahead and tell us what you know." It wasn't a question.

"What do we get if we help?" Veronika asked smoothly. Mac was slightly surprised to hear a thick Russian accent coming from her mouth.

"That depends entirely on the information you give us, as we told you earlier."

The Russians looked at each other, and Vadim nodded. "Okay," he said. "We were to meet at the Russian embassy masquerade in two nights to make the deal."

"Okay, so we have a location," Matty said in approval. "What else have you got? That's not enough to get you a deal as good as you're hoping for."

"We do not know the seller's name," Vadim insisted.

"Maybe not, but you know enough that you were going to be able to make the trade," Matty reminded him.

"Since it is masque, we were to wear specific mask and outfits, as was he," Veronika spoke up.

"Better," Matty said with a nod. "How were you supposed to pay?"

"It was fairly simple. Someone would come up to me, call me 'Sparrow,' and we would make our way out. We would pay via electronic transfer once we had confirmation of codes. Five million dollars," Vadim explained.

Matty nodded. "Good. Is there anything else you can tell us?"

The two of them looked at each other. "The only other thing I can think of is the name. He would refer to us as Sparrow. We were to call him Scorpion."

Riley shifted uncomfortably in her seat, which didn't go unnoticed by her friends. "Uh...can I talk to you guys outside?" she asked. Looking confused, Matty, Jack, and Mac followed the hacker out of the room to where Bozer was waiting.

"What's going on, Ri?" Jack asked. Riley folded her arms.

"I can't go undercover for this mission," she stated. "I … I know Scorpion."

"You _know_ him?" Matty asked, raising an eyebrow. Riley nodded.

"We ended up...crossing paths briefly a few years ago," she explained. "We didn't make very good impressions on each other, and there's too much of a chance he'd recognize me, even with a mask on."

"Is there any way you could lead us to him without having to go undercover at all?" Matty asked. Riley shook her head.

"He's constantly on the move, and he stole an algorithm that scrambles his IP address, so it'd be almost impossible to pin down a location before the meet."

"So what are we gonna do?" Jack asked, crossing his arms. "We can't _not_ go get the plans. Matty, do you think Veronika would be willing to go undercover as herself with the right incentives?"

"She wouldn't be undercover if she were going as herself, Jack," Matty said. "And I don't want to do that. I don't trust them not to double cross us, and then we'd lose those codes for good."

"Hold on," Mac said, his eyes lighting up as he got an idea. Everyone looked at the blond.

"That's a look that usually means you've got a crazy plan," Matty said.

"It's actually not that crazy," Mac said, looking at Jack. "Who do we know that's Russian and works with us occasionally?"

Jack's eyebrows raised and he understood what Mac was thinking. "Y'think she'd do it?" he asked. MacGyver shrugged.

"She might. It's worth a shot to ask, and she'd be working with us, which is one of her stipulations."

"Hold on, can someone explain what's goin' on?" Bozer asked.

"Yeah, I second that," Riley said, looking between Jack and Mac in confusion. Jack grinned.

"How would you guys feel about meeting Anja?"

 _ **Yay! Chapter 1 is out! And Anja! Are you guys excited to see her come back? (I don't think it's critical to know her backstory to read this, but if you don't know who she is and are interested in finding out, you can either read my story "There Can Be No Witnesses" or "Jellybean." If you want.)**_

 _ **What do you guys think? This first chapter is really rough I feel, but I think it gets better as the story goes on... I started writing this while I was in Disney World and couldn't work on my contest submission, so a lot of it was really rushed, though I tried to fix it up. Sorry, rambling XD What did you think?**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**Wowza, I'm blown away by how many of you are excited about this! I was so excited to bring back Anja, and I hoped others would be too! ^_^**_

 _ **Also, thank you all for your support about the internship! Love you all!**_

 _ **I don't own the characters.**_

Mac and Jack were waiting at the airport, scanning the crowds for their friend. Finally Mac spotted her coming down one of the escalators, and he and Jack made their way over.

"Jack, MacGyver," Anja greeted warmly as she gave them hugs.

"Hey Anja," Mac said. "Thanks for agreeing to do this. We really need you."

"I owe you and Jack my life," Anja said. "I am happy to help when I can. What do we need to do?"

"First, we're goin' back to Phoenix. Matty needs to brief you on the whole situation. Plus, we've got some friends who are curious to meet you," Jack explained as he grabbed her bag from her.

Anja looked slightly uncomfortable at the thought of meeting new people, but she remembered who she was with, and how much she trusted them, and she relaxed again.

"We know you don't like meeting new people, but they're kinda crucial to the mission," Jack said. Anja shook her head.

"Do not worry," she assured him. "I trust you. If they are your friends, they are my friends." She paused for a moment. "Uh, how many are there exactly?"

"Just Matty, Bozer, and Riley," Mac replied.

"Also, someone named Jane may be running around somewhere," Jack added.

"It's Jill," Mac said in exasperation.

"Eh, potato, potahto." Jack waved his hand dismissively.

"Why do you do that?" Mac asked, giving his friend an exasperated look.

"What?"

"You know full well her name is Jill."

"She doens't mind," Jack said with a shrug. Mac opened his mouth to respond, but Anja beat him to it.

"Whatever you say, John."

Jack started at the different name. "Wh—my name's not… oh. Oh I see what you're doin'. Ha, ha, ha."

Anja smirked. "Now maybe you get her name right," she said.

"Maybe," Jack replied, not promising anything. Mac and Anja shared a look, but decided to let the subject slide, for now at least. The three of them made their way out to their car.

 _0-0-0_

"Anja," Mac said, opening the doors and leading their friend in. "Welcome to the Phoenix Foundation."

"It's nice," Anja commented as she looked around.

"Miss Smirnov." Matty's voice sounded from the level above them, and Mac, Jack, and Anja looked up. She walked down the stairs, and when she reached them, she held out her hand. "I'm director Matilda Webber. Mac and Jack have told me about how you've helped them in the past, and we think you could be a valuable asset to us on this mission."

Anja accepted the hand and they shook. "I will help however I can," she promised. "It is nice to meet you," she added. "It is a shame about Ms. Thornton, but MacGyver and Jack have told me many good things of you."

At the mention of Thornton, Mac tensed up slightly. He still never knew how to react when people brought up that situation. Matty didn't seem to react though, and she simply nodded.

"Bozer and Riley are waiting upstairs," she said. "We've got a lot to do before the meet up."

Matty led them up to the war room, where Riley was sitting. When she saw the group walk in, she stood up and walked over to Anja.

"Anja," she greeted. "I'm Riley. It's nice to finally meet you. I uh, heard you saved Mac and Jack's bacon a couple times before." She added that last part with a wink at the older agents.

"Hey now," Jack protested. Riley raised her eyebrow at the older man. Jack considered things for a moment, then inclined his head. "Eh, she's right."

Anja and Mac chuckled.

"Yeah, this is great and all, but we've got a guy out there with highly classified government property, remember?" Matty asked as she stood in front of the screen, looking at her employees impatiently. "Bozer, Riley, Anja. Anja, Bozer and Riley. Can we move on now?" She took the group's silence as a confirmation, and she began the debriefing.

"As you know, satellite defense plans were stolen. We've got the buyers, and we have a location. Thanks to Riley, we also know who the seller is, though that does mean she can't go undercover with you guys. We'll be watching over things from here while MacGyver and Anja go to the masque, posing as our buyers. Does everyone understand?"

MacGyver and Anja nodded in agreement.

"Good. Because if you didn't, I'd be a little confused as to why you're here. Now," she continued, walking over to the door. "Mac, you've already got your tux for the masque, but Veronika said that Scorpion would ID her by wearing a green dress, so…" Matty opened the door and Jill walked in holding a dress bag. Anja accepted the bag and unzipped it, and her mouth fell open in a small "o" shape as she looked at the silk green dress. There was a slit going up one leg right above the knee, and a pair of strappy gold shoes were sitting at the bottom of the bag.

"Then there are these," Matty said, taking boxes from Jill's hands as well and handing them to Mac and Anja. The two of them pulled out the gold masks sitting in the boxes. "Riley's already outfitted them with small cameras so we can see everything you see. We only have the invitations to get the two of you in, but Jack will be outside waiting. As soon as you get the codes, get outside and meet him."

"What about the money?" Anja asked, still running her fingers over the dress.

"Phoenix will provide the money, but Riley is going to track the transfer and hopefully get us some sort of location for Scorpion, since we can't technically arrest him on Russian soil," Matty explained.

MacGyver was examining the mask with an interesting expression on his face.

"Mac?" Jack asked, nudging his friend in the side. The blond looked at Jack, who asked, "Everything okay?"

"Yeah," Mac replied. "Why wouldn't it be?"

"I dunno, you tell me. You're the one who looks like he's holding something dead in his hands."

"Wh-no I don't," Mac insisted, though he did put the mask back in the box and set the box down on the couch.

"What's goin' on dude?" Jack asked, wondering why Mac looked so uncomfortable. Mac was about to respond, but Matty interrupted them.

"Is this necessary?" she asked, looking at Jack with a raised eyebrow. Mac answered before his partner could.

"No, it's not," he said, staring at his partner.

"Well then, can we focus on what _is_?" Matty asked.

Jack stared at his partner with a curious look on his face, but didn't say anything else, so Matty continued.

"The masque begins at eight o'clock tonight. Veronika and Vadim don't know exactly when Scorpion is supposed to make contact, so it could be any time. Stay sharp, look alive, and don't get killed."

Anja raised an eyebrow at the last part of the sentence. "You think he would kill?" she asked. Mac wondered for a moment if she was going to pull out, but when he looked at her, he didn't see any signs indicating that she was changing her mind.

"The time we crossed paths, I definitely don't think he would have," Riley answered. "That was almost six years ago though, and he's always been more of a wild card than other hackers. He could have changed in that time."

"Whatever the case, we'll be right there with you guys," Jack promised Anja. "You get in, make the trade, get out, and we get our guy. We can bring him in as soon as he steps off Russian soil, so we just need things to go smoothly on your end. But no pressure."

Mac rolled his eyes at Jack before turning to Anja. "Don't worry," he assured her. "You're going to be fine."

Anja smiled thankfully at Mac.

"Lovely support group we've got going here, but you guys have somewhere to be, don't you?" Matty asked, tapping her watch to indicate the time.

"Hey guys," Jack said in excitement as everyone turned to break. "You know what this is?" The look in his eyes told Mac that some sort of joke was coming, and he tried to stop whatever it was, but Jack bowled right over him. "We're going to a 'Mac'squerade!"

The entire group groaned at the pun. Everyone but Anja. She got a huge grin on her face, which didn't pass by Jack unnoticed.

"At least someone appreciates my puns," he said proudly, putting an arm around the woman's shoulders and smirking at the rest of the group.

"Please don't encourage it," Riley begged Anja.

"They only get worse as time goes by," Bozer added.

"I do not see problem," Anja said with a shrug. "Puns are funny, and they are sign of a quick mind."

"Y'hear that?" Jack said, his grin widening even more. "Got a quick mind right here." He tapped the side of his head.

Mac chuckled and turned to leave the room, ignoring Jack's insistence that his puns were a blessing to the world. There were other things he needed to focus on.

 _0-0-0_

Mac watched the couples on the dance floor silently, lost in thought. He didn't even notice when someone walked up to his side.

"MacGyver?" Anja asked, jerking the blond out of his thoughts as she stood next to him. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," he assured her.

"Jack was right," she continued, studying her friend's face. The part that she could see anyway. "You look tense. What is the matter?"

"Really, I'm fine," Mac said, but Anja didn't believe him. She looked out to the crowd, then back at her friend's face as he watched the dancers, and she had a thought.

"Can...can you not dance?"

The bottom half of Mac's cheeks were red, and Anja chuckled. "This is nothing to be, uh...sovestno…"

"Ashamed?" Mac supplied.

"Da," Anja nodded. "Nothing to be ashamed of."

"It's not that I can't dance," Mac finally said. "I'm just not very good at it."

"This is fine," Anja grinned. "I will help." With that she took Mac's hand and led him onto the dance floor. The two of them began a slow waltz in time to the music, and after a few bars, Anja looked up at Mac. "What are you talking about? You are good dancer!"

MacGyver chuckled. "This is the extent of what I can do without tripping over your feet," he promised. Anja didn't believe him for a second, and when the next song came on, a slightly faster-paced dance, she ignored his protests and kept him on the dance floor, where he proceeded to stare at his feet to make sure he was getting the steps right and not crushing his friend's toes. Anja laughed.

"MacGyver," she said with a short look of disbelief on her face. "The man who can make alarms out of mouse traps and poppers, can't dance?"

Mac chuckled as he glanced back up at Anja's smirking face. "Uh huh, go ahead, rub it in."

Anja didn't say anything else, but her eyes twinkled mischievously. Thankfully, the music ended soon, and Anja allowed Mac to lead her off the floor to the sidelines, where they watched the next dance while casually observing each passerby, wondering where their target was.

"You look absolutely ravishing in that dress, _vorobey_." The voice spoke from behind, and with a small jump, Anja turned to face the man who had spoken.

Back at the Phoenix Foundation, Matty, Bozer, and Riley were all watching the proceedings through the cameras on the masks. "Is that him?" Matty asked Riley when Anja turned to face the man who had spoken. Riley stared intently at the face.

"I mean, with only his jawline visible, and seeing as how the last time I saw him was over five years ago, I can't be sure, but yeah, I think that's him," she said.

"Call him by his code name," Matty instructed.

"One should not sneak up on a person so," Anja chastised lightly, doing her best to keep her tone light. "You are Scorpion?" she asked quietly.

Scorpion smirked. "Might I interest you in a drink?" he offered instead of answering her question, grabbing a few flutes from a nearby waiter. Anja nodded in consent, and she and MacGyver began walking out. However, Scorpion stopped and held his hand out, blocking Mac. "Just the lady, please," he requested. Anja gave Mac a small nod, and though MacGyver could see that she was slightly petrified, they both knew that if they blew their covers, they'd lose the codes. And potentially more.

So instead of insisting that he go with them, Mac simply gave a tight smile and inclined his head in agreement before stepping back. Anja was led away, out a side door to a rest area. Mac waited a moment, then slowly made his way towards the door, intending to listen in just in case his friend needed help.

"Not too close, Blondie," Matty cautioned. "We don't want to draw any attention to ourselves."

Mac heeded his boss's caution and stopped a few feet away from the door, right by one of the tables laden with food.

"Stop staring at the door, you're being weird," Riley admonished. "Just turn and watch the dancing, or get food, or something."

"Thanks for telling me how to do my job, Riley," Mac replied drily, though the hacker knew it was in jest.

"Any time," came the snarky response. "Don't worry about Anja, Mac." This time, Riley's voice was more understanding. "We can see everything that's going on. She's doing fine. Just relax."

Mac did as his friend suggested and turned to watch the people dancing, though he couldn't quite shake the feeling that something was off. He didn't know what, but it was making him uncomfortable. A waitress walked up to him carrying a champagne flute and offered it to him. Mac held up his hand in a polite gesture of declining the offered beverage, but the waitress insisted.

"It is from woman at bar," she explained coyly, her eyebrow cocking in an almost suggestive manner. Mac looked over to the bar but didn't see the alleged woman, though he knew the waitress probably wouldn't leave him alone until she'd delivered the drink. He let out a quiet huff of air and accepted the flute with a smile, though he didn't drink any of the liquid.

"Oh, got a secret admirer, have we?" Jack asked coyly over the comms. "Too bad they don't know you're taken."

"I'm not taken," Mac replied.

"You came with someone, didn't you?"

"Jack-"

"Enough," Matty ordered. Mac and Jack quit arguing, but Mac knew he hadn't heard the last of that strain of teasing.

He waited a few more moments before saying, "She's been in there a while. Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, she's doing fine," Riley assured him. "We haven't seen the codes yet, so she's selling the act. She's starting to the transfer the money."

Back at the Phoenix Foundation, Bozer raised a question. "Uh, if she goes through with the transaction, will we ever see that money again?"

Riley nodded. "Yeah. The majority of online banking and apps are all connected. Since we have the routing number, even if he moves the money out of that particular account, it should be fairly simple to track back down."

Mac turned around to face the door, about to ask how much longer Anja had to be in there. As he turned though, he felt something sharp hit his elbow.

Mac looked down to see what had pricked him, but there was nothing there. He started to turn around, but a sudden wave of dizziness overtook him, and he stumbled, dropping the champagne flute he was still holding.

"Mac? What's wrong?"

Mac could hear Riley and Matty in his ear asking what was wrong, and then Jack began chiming in.

"I don't know, I'm just...really dizzy," Mac muttered, closing his eyes to try and stop the world from spinning.

"Sir?" a voice came from Mac's side. It was the waitress from before. Mac looked over at her, then doubled over as a pain suddenly erupted in his stomach. He let out a groan, and he barely heard the waitress say something about taking him somewhere to 'sleep it off.'

MacGyver felt like his tongue was suddenly made of lead, but he managed to get out, "Drugged." He knew that was what it had to be. The pain in his arm, the dizziness and nausea, it was all too coincidental, and Mac knew that they were in trouble.

"Mac?" Jack's voice had a determined tone, one that said he wasn't about to let anyone stop him from what he was about to do. "Hold on Mac, I'm comin' in."

"Sir, let us get you resting," the waitress said, guiding Mac across the back of the room. Mac wanted to resist, but he felt himself moving along against his wishes. He couldn't stop himself. Vaguely, he heard a door open and felt a cool breeze blow across his face. The breeze gave him a bit of clarity, and he straightened up as much as he could. In front of him was a van, and when Mac saw the back doors open, he knew he had to do something.

There wasn't anything he could do to get away, so instead, Mac simply looked up at his abductor, doing his best to give his friends a good view of who was behind it.

Before long, Mac was in the back of the van on his back. His mask was removed, though he didn't know what happened to it. He felt someone grabbing at his legs, trying to tie them down, and using his last bit of strength, Mac lashed out. His feet made a solid connection with the person trying to tie him down.

His kidnapper let out a grunt as Mac's feet collided with her midsection, and she muttered a curse before kicking Mac in the chest. The blond let out a wheeze as the air was forced from his lungs, and while he was distracted, his attacker managed to quickly bind Mac's ankles together. He was then shoved onto his side and his arms were yanked behind his back and tied together as well. Once that was done, the waitress hopped out from the back of the van and shut the back doors.

"Mac?" Matty's voice came over the come that was still in the blond's ear. "Mac, what's going on? Where are you?"

"Van...back...embassy," Mac grunted out, every word making him feel like he was running a marathon. He knew that whatever he'd been given, it must have had some sort of muscle relaxant in it, because he now had absolutely no control over his limbs at all, and he was quickly losing the ability to speak coherent words.

Mac felt the van start, felt the ground rumble underneath his body. "Starting," he said. Mac heard Jack curse under his breath. Suddenly the van took a sharp turn and Mac was tossed to the side. He hit his head, not noticing that it knocked his com out. Paired with how groggy the drug had made him, the hit to his head was all it took to send the blond into the realm of unconsciousness.

 _0-0-0_

Jack knew something was wrong the minute he heard the glass shatter over the comms. That was when he checked his gun and got out of the van he was sitting in. Once he heard MacGyver say "drugged," Jack made his way towards the embassy.

"Mac?" Jack asked. "Hold on, Mac. I'm comin' in." Jack was almost to the front gates of the embassy, getting ready to tell the people at the gate anything to get himself inside, but then Mac replied to Matty's query of where he was with, "Van...back...embassy." Jack course-corrected, heading instead for the back of the embassy, where all the vans for the caterers were parked.

"Starting," came Mac's lethargic voice. Through the coms, Jack could indeed hear the rumble of a van starting, and he let out a curse as he tried to go even faster than he already was. However, as he rounded the corner, he had to dive out of the way to avoid being hit by the van that sped around the corner. He got to his knees, took aim, and fired off a few rounds, but they were mostly rounds of frustration, since he knew the van was too far away for the bullets to do any real damage.

"Jack?" Matty's voice came over the comms.

Instead of responding to Matty, Jack addressed Riley. "Ri, I need you to track Mac. I'm goin' after him."

It took the older agent a minute to get back to his car, but as soon as he was inside, Jack started the engine and peeled out after the people who'd taken his friend.

 _0-0-0_

Anja followed Scorpion through the side door, trying not to seem to jumpy as she was now alone with the man.

"You have codes?" she asked as Scorpion turned around, trying to sound as confident as she was supposed to be. Scorpion nodded.

"And what did you bring?" he asked condescendingly. Anja's eyes narrowed under her mask, but she didn't let her irritation show.

She pulled out her phone and hit a few spots on her screen, bringing up the payment app Riley had shown her.

"Five million American dollars," Anja said, showing the phone to the thief. "And now the codes?"

"Hold on there," Scorpion said, holding up his hand. "Transfer the money now, then you'll get the codes."

"Bargain with him," Matty instructed.

"I will give half of money now," Anja countered. "Once I get codes, you get rest of the money."

Scorpion eyed Anja critically for a moment before a smile crossed his face. "Get to transferring," he instructed, indicating that he agreed to her terms. Anja hit a few keys, then held up the phone to show that the money was transferring.

Suddenly from outside the room, Anja heard something that sounded like glass shattering. She turned instinctively towards the door, and while she was distracted, Scorpion struck.

Something sharp was jabbed into Anja's neck. She let out an involuntary gasp of surprise and slight pain as her hand moved up to inspect the injury. However, Scorpion caught her hand and twisted her around gently, almost as if they were a dance, until she was facing him again. He began moving her back towards the couch, and as much as Anja wanted to fight and struggle and claw Scorpion's eyes out, she found her limbs unresponsive.

She looked up at Scorpion with wide eyes. Scorpion plucked the phone out of Anja's hand and transferred the rest of the money into his account. Then, after he tossed Anja's phone back on her lap, he reached into his pocket and crouched down next to her.

"I'm a man of my word, Ms. Borchek. Here are the codes."

Anja felt something shoved into her hand, and she realized that it was the USB drive with the codes on it. Scorpion continued talking.

"However, there is a third party who is willing to pay a substantial amount of money for your husband. If I'm to be a man of my word to him as well, I can't have you following me. Pleasure doing business with you."

Anja tried to move, but whatever Scorpion had pricked her with had taken full control of her body, and she couldn't move her limbs. She felt Scorpion lower her onto the couch and release her. Her head lolled onto the arm rest, and as she fought to stay conscious, she caught the briefest glimpse of Scorpion walking out towards a door she assumed lead outside.

As Anja's eyes closed, the last thought that crossed her mind was how on earth she and MacGyver always seemed to find themselves in these situations, but more importantly, wondering how she was going to get her friend back. She was also worried about what would happen if and when Scorpion found out Mac wasn't actually the man he was looking for.

 _ **Dun dun dunnnnn...**_

 _ **Okay, thoughts? What did you guys think? I feel like this chapter, especially the first half, was rough...**_

 ** _Also, did those different points of view make sense? I wasn't sure if they did or not..._**

 ** _Lemme know!_**

 ** _vorobey-Sparrow (google translate)_**


	3. Chapter 3

_**Chapter three!**_

 _ **My thoughts on the season finale are at the end of the chapter :)**_

 _ **I don't own the characters, except Anja. She's mine, and I love her.**_

"Riley, I need a location," Jack said as he sped through traffic, chasing after the van that had taken off with MacGyver in it.

"Take your next left," came the young woman's reply. Jack jerked the steering wheel hard, causing several cars to honk at him as he cut across traffic.

"Just keep going straight," Riley instructed once he took the turn. Jack didn't respond, but he followed the directions.

"They stopped moving," Riley suddenly informed Jack.

"What? Where?"

"Three miles ahead of you."

Jack floored the gas pedal, glad that traffic was lighter in this part of town. He was about to ask Riley where the van was, but he suddenly saw it parked on the side of the road. He threw his own car into park and opened the door to get out, but before he could even set a foot on the ground, the van across from him exploded, throwing bits of van shrapnel everywhere and forcing Jack to duck back into his car to avoid being impaled. Jack stared at the van in disbelief.

"...ton? Dalton? Jack!" Matty's voice suddenly cut through Jack's hearing again.

"I'm goin' in," Jack said, stripping off his coat and opening his door again.

"Hold _on_ , Jack!" Matty said exasperatedly. "Mac's not in there!"

"You don't know that!" Jack shot back, making his way towards the burning van, covering his lower face with his jacket.

"Yes, I do. Apparently this was more of a trap for the Borcheks than anything. Scorpion told Anja that there's a wealthy third party who wants Vadim Borchek, and somehow I don't think torching their target will get them paid," Matty explained. "Riley also found a security camera nearby, and we watched as two people got out of the van, then loaded Mac into the back of a truck. He's not in there, Dalton."

The fact that Riley had found visual proof that Mac wasn't there made Jack feel better, but he still stood there staring at the burning vehicle.

"Jack." Matty's voice was firm, but surprisingly not as harsh as Jack was expecting. "I promise you. He's not in there. If you run in now, you're only going to get yourself hurt."

Jack had stopped moving, and he finally muttered, "Yeah...yeah, okay." He didn't move until Matty spoke again though.

"We'll find him, Dalton. For now though, I need you to get back to the embassy, get Anja out, and get back to Phoenix so we can figure out who wants Vadim. That's an order, Jack."

Jack stared at the van a moment longer before he turned and got back into his SUV. It killed him to do so, but he finally left the burning hunk of metal and made his way back towards the embassy.

He parked his car out front and noticed a figure slowly making her way out of the building.

"Anja!" he called out, worry in his voice as he noticed how slow and jerky the woman's movements were. Anja made her way over to Jack, and he caught her as she stumbled. "Woah," he said. "What'd they get you with?" he muttered as he looked the woman over. "Come on," he said, helping her move slowly over to their car.

"MacGyver?" Anja asked, looking around for their friend, not wanting to believe that Scorpion had gotten the better of them.

"He's gone," Jack replied. "Don't worry though. We're going to get him back."

 _0-0-0_

"Did you know he had a partner?" Matty asked Riley. The young hacker bristled.

"Don't you think I would have mentioned that if I knew?"

It was clear tensions were high, and Jack wanted nothing more than to place blame on someone, but he knew that wouldn't help them get Mac back.

Jack and Anja had come back to the Phoenix, and after the young Russian woman got checked out by the medical staff, they met up with the rest of the team in the war room. Riley was running a search for it on any traffic cams she could, and she was also running the plates that she'd had managed to snag, though the camera had only caught a partial, which took more time to run down, as Riley had to keep reminding Jack every time he asked her if something had popped up.

"Hey!" he said loudly, drowning out Riley and Matty before they could get into an argument. "We aren't the ones we need to be upset at or questioning at the moment," he reminded them. "It's the Borcheks we need to be going after."

"They're being brought up right now," Matty replied. "Don't worry," she said, making sure everyone had solid eye contact with her, especially Anja. "We're going to get to the bottom of this, and we're going to get Mac back." Everyone nodded, and after Matty shot a knowing glance at Riley, Bozer, and Jack, the three of them took the hint and not-so-casually made their way out of the room, leaving Anja and Matty alone.

"This isn't your fault," Matty stated. Anja didn't reply, but Matty could tell that the Russian didn't believe her. "You're not a trained field agent," Matty continued. "You had one job: get the codes back." The head of Phoenix held up the USB drive. "You did that. Mac's a big boy. He can handle himself until we can get to him."

Anja still didn't look like she believed Matty, or at least it seemed that Matty's words did little to make Anja feel better, but at that moment, Jack poked his head back into the war room. "They're here."

 _0-0-0_

The first thing that came to Mac's attention as he started coming around was a slow, sluggish feeling in his head. It took him a minute to remember what happened, but when he finally did, his eyes shot open. He tried to move, but had forgotten briefly about the bindings around his wrists and ankles. There was also a piece of duct tape placed across Mac's mouth, preventing him from yelling anything legible.

The next thing the blond realized was that he was in a different setting than he had been at first, if he was remembering things correctly. He was still in a moving vehicle, but it felt more enclosed than the back of the van he'd been in. He looked up and around, but everything was pitch black. Deciding his head had had enough bouncing up and down on the floor, Mac tried to sit up. He only got about halfway there when his head hit something hard. Squinting his eyes to try and block out the pain, Mac realized that he was in the bed of a truck, and that the open space had been covered with one of those hard plastic covers.

It was pitch black, and Mac couldn't see anything, but that didn't stop the agent from trying to figure out a way to get out. He began rolling around on his back, trying to make as little noise as possible, even though he didn't think the people who'd kidnapped him could actually hear anything. Mac ignored the pain in his fingers when he rolled over them, and he felt around himself to see if there was anything he could use to cut the ties around his wrists.

His hands fumbled over a small wrench, and though he couldn't use it to cut himself loose, he figured once he was loose it would be a good thing to have on hand. For the moment, he had to leave it where he found it, but he told himself he'd go back for it before he continued on with his search.

He had to scoot around the back of the truck in order to search the entire bed, but he finally managed to find some extra rope, not that it was going to do him much good if he couldn't get himself untied.

Suddenly, his fingers registered what material the bed of the truck was lined with. It was a hard plastic. Even though it was still dark, Mac managed to find his way over to where one of the tires was, and felt the plastic rise in a bulge where the wheel well was sitting. Rotating himself around on his back and once again ignoring the pain coming from his crushed fingers, Mac finally positioned himself in the best position he could. He then brought his bound legs up before slamming them down onto the wheel cover. The first kick did nothing. Neither did the second, third, fourth, or fifth. By the sixth kick, Mac's legs were stinging from the impact, but Mac finally thought he felt the plastic give a little. Ignoring the aches and pains coming from his legs, he kicked the plastic once more and felt something cave in.

Breathing heavily through his nose, Mac once again shifted himself around until his hands stumbled over pieces of the plastic that had broken off. He found what he figured was the biggest piece and turned it around in his hands and began sawing away at the tape around his wrists. He jabbed himself in the arm a few times with the pointy end of the plastic shard, but he didn't draw blood, for which he was grateful.

After a few minutes of sawing away, Mac finally felt the tape snap enough that he could pull his wrists apart. As soon as his hands were loose, Mac reached up and pulled the tape away from his mouth, wincing slightly as it pulled away. After he could start breathing normally again, he used the same piece of plastic and sawed through the tape around his ankles.

After he was free of the sticky tape, Mac made his way back over to where he'd left the wrench and rope. It was still too dark to see anything, but Mac could feel that the wrench wasn't big enough to be a very effective weapon. Instead, the blond scooted over to the edge of the truck bed again and began feeling along the edge of the cover, looking for any sort of space that he could use the wrench. He tried jamming the wrench anywhere he could to see if he could pry the top off, but the wrench was too small to do any real damage.

Sitting on his knees like he was was giving Mac a bad crick in his neck, so he went back to laying on his back for a moment while he thought. The wind coming in from the hole in the wheel well cover felt nice, but it was suddenly a lot nicer as Mac got an idea. He smacked himself in the forehead for not thinking of it sooner, but he made his way back to where he'd kicked the hole in the wheel well cover, grabbing the rope as he passed it. He brought the wrench as well, needing something to weigh the rope down with.

His fingers knew the knot he needed to tie by muscle memory, so he didn't have to have any sort of light in order to tie the knot off. However, with no light, it did make his next order of business a little more tricky. He scooted himself over to the wheel well cover and looked down. He could see lines passing underneath the wheel on the road, but that was all. He couldn't see the tire itself. Trusting physics, Mac began lowering the wrench-laden rope through the hole until he felt it hit the top of the tire.

He let the wrench find it's way down the front of the tire, and then when he felt it start resisting his hold slightly as it got caught between the tire and the road, Mac gave it some slack. There was always a chance that the tire would just run over the wrench and leave it on the side of the road, but thankfully the truck had enough traction that it did what MacGyver wanted and picked up the wrench as it went around, and the rope began unwinding.

The moment the rope began slipping through his fingers, Mac was still holding onto it fairly tight, and he hissed as the rope dragged across his skin, leaving what he was sure was an angry red streak. He kept hold of the rope thankfully, though he did loosen his grip slightly to allow it to pass through his hands easier. As more and more of the rope wound itself around the tire, the jerkier the movements of the truck felt to Mac. Finally, just as he was literally reaching the end of his rope, he felt the truck slow down and pull off the side of the road.

A muffled voice came from outside the bed of the truck. "What is going on?"

"Is it a flat?"

"I dunno. Check on Borchek."

It was exactly what Mac had wanted to have happen. He put himself as close to the gate as he could and listened to the footsteps getting closer and closer.

A shrill, metallic shriek split the night as the gate was lowered, but it was drowned out by the surprised shout of the same woman who had gotten Mac in the van in the first place as Mac pushed himself out of the back of the truck.

Both of them fell to the ground, but a well placed punch from MacGyver kept the woman there, dazed, while he got up and turned to fight Scorpion.

"Clever," Scorpion admitted. "Vasiliev didn't mention how smart you were."

The sentence didn't make sense to MacGyver, but he figured that Vasiliev was the reason he-the reason Vadim Borchek had been captured. Mac decided to keep his mouth shut, unsure if he could keep a Russian accent while fighting. Besides, there wasn't supposed to be talking during a fight.

Mac ducked as Scorpion swung a fist at his face. Scorpion's face was in the perfect position, and Mac immediately turned and threw his elbow into the man's face. Scorpion reeled back with a curse, holding his nose, but Mac wasn't able to revel in that success for very long, because at that moment, a sharp jab to his kidneys brough him to his knees. He'd dismissed the woman too early. Despite the pain, Mac tried to turn around and fight the waitress, but she jabbed something into his side before he could, and the unfortunately-familiar feeling of electric currents from a taser made their way through his system, and he collapsed to the ground, unable to prevent that bodily response.

"What were you thinking?" Scorpion shouted at his companion as he stood over Mac.

"You said check on him!" the woman shouted back. "How was I supposed to know that he'd gotten himself loose?"

"You think the rope just wound itself around the tire on it's own, Sylvia?"

"I dunno Tristan. All you said was check on him."

"Context, Syl. Context."

"Hey, at least I didn't get my nose bashed in. That's the second time I've caught him tonight, no thanks to you!"

"I swear Syl, if this payday gets screwed up because of you…"

Mac tried to move while the couple was arguing, but the two of them noticed his movements and stopped bickering long enough for Scorpion to grab him by his lapels and haul him upright. He glared at MacGyver, and without taking his eyes off his prisoner, he asked Syl,

"We got any of the stuff left?"

Syl nodded. "I think we've still got some of what you dosed the girl with."

Mac's blood ran cold as he thought about Anja. Tristan gave Mac a disgusted look and dropped him to the ground before walking around the passenger side of the truck. A few moments later, he came back with a syringe in his hand. He knelt down next to MacGyver, who tried rolling away, but Tristan grabbed his hair and twisted his head so that Mac's neck was exposed, then inserted the needle into the neck.

Mac grunted as he tried to fight off the man holding his hair, but it didn't work, and pretty soon, the blond felt his limbs get heavier. He heard the ripping of duct tape, and soon the sticky stuff was wound around Mac's hands again, though this time it was in front of him. Mac tried once again to kick out at whoever was in front of him, but by the time his legs listened to his brain's command, the woman had already stepped out of the way, and Mac's legs hardly lifted off the ground at all.

"It's a good thing we're close," Sylvia muttered as Tristan hoised Mac back up. "He'll be out of our hair soon, and we can get outta here."

"Syl, get the bag," Tristan ordered, not responding to her griping. He bent down and hoisted Mac back up to his feet and started dragging the agent around the side of the truck. For the first time, Mac noticed that it was a four-door truck, with a large backseat. Syl came back with a black hood, which she proceeded to put over Mac's head, effectively blinding the agent. A door was opened, and Mac felt himself being hoisted into the backseat of the truck. He wanted to move, to fight back, but whatever they'd drugged him, and apparently Anja with was powerful, and fast working. He had basically no control over his limbs anymore, but as he listened to Tristan and Syl struggling to get him into the truck, he felt a bit of validation knowing that he was making things as difficult as he could.

Finally, he was loaded into the backseat, left lying on his back with his hands tied in front of him, making him look almost like he was praying. The back door was slammed shut, and then Mac heard the two front doors open and close as Tristan and Syl got in.

"You listen here, Borchek," Tristan growled. Mac pictured him turning around in the seat to threaten his prisoner. "You're worth a lot of money alive, so we won't kill you, but they didn't say anything about delivering you completely undamaged, so if you know what's good for you, don't make any more trouble, and we won't have to hurt you."

Mac didn't answer, but he didn't think Tristan was expecting one. The truck's engine roared back to life, and Mac rolled a little as the vehicle began moving. As they drove away, Mac could only hope that the drug would wear off before they got to their final destination.

 _ **So not as much action in this chapter, sorry about that...**_

 _ **Anyway. That finale, huh? I...I'm a little conflicted about it tbh. I liked it, but at the same time, I didn't. Except for the last few minutes (those of you who have seen it know what I'm talking about), it didn't really have the feel of a season finale for me? Not enough action, in my opinion. And the bad guy? He wasn't very smart about the whole situation, leaving the two MacGyvers alone, in a room full of electronics and chemicals.**_

 _ **Like I said, I feel like I wanted a bit more action, so I'm writing a fic now where it's a continuation of that episode, and there will be more action and whump.**_

 _ **Anyway...What did you guys think of the chapter? Thank you all so much for the reviews, follows, and favs, btw! They mean so much to me :)**_

 _ **Lemme know what you think!**_


	4. Chapter 4

_**Chapter four! There is a bit more action in this one, especially near the end, but I'm at the point where I think I'm just not sure what's good anymore, so let me know what you all think XD**_

 _ **Characters are not mine except for Anja.**_

Matty opened the door and stalked in, staring the Borcheks down as she approached.

"It worked? You got your man?" Veronika asked.

"Not even close," Matty said, her tone letting her guests know that she wasn't in any sort of mood for jokes or tricks. Jack entered behind her and stood by the door, grasping his wrists in front of him and doing his best to look intimidating, which wasn't hard, considering the circumstances. Anja, Riley, and Bozer were watching through the cameras in an adjacent room.

"We tell you everything we know," Vadim insisted, staring at Jack warily.

"Apparently not everything," Matty snapped, tossing a folder onto the table. The two Russians looked at each other, then down to the folder, then up at Matty, who raised her eyebrows, indicating that the two of them should open it up.

Finally Veronika reached out and opened the folder gingerly, almost as if she was worried it was going to bite her. When the folder was opened and the papers inside were exposed, the Borcheks looked like they were going to be sick.

"How did you find this?" Vadim asked, pushing the folder away as if it were poisonous.

"There was a slight change of plans at the masque tonight, and my man was taken. They said someone was willing to pay a lot of money for Vadim here, so I dug around a little bit." Matty put her hands on the table in front of her and leaned into it, staring the Russians down. "Imagine my surprise when I see that you two weren't who you said you were."

"Please," Veronika said. "We tell you."

"It is my fault," Vadim interrupted. "I turned on man I worked for for a long time."

"Who was this man?" Matty asked.

Vadim took a deep breath before he answered. "His name is Boris Vasiliev."

In the next room, Anja's eyes narrowed and she leaned forward slightly, which didn't go unnoticed by Bozer or Riley.

"You know him?" Riley asked.

Anja shook her head. "Know of him," she corrected. She motioned her head back to the TV, where Vadim was currently explaining his former employer.

"He is head of one of mob families in Russia. I was his...how you say...money counter?"

"His accountant?"

"Da," Vadim confirmed with a nod of his head. "Things were fine, but somehow police got hold of one of his accounts. Police track me down, and promised that if we give up information we know, they would help us disappear."

Matty cocked her eyebrow. "Bang-up job you've done with your second chance, guys," she scolded.

"You don't understand," Veronika shot. "Boris has men everywhere. It was only matter of time before he finds us, so we thought we would give him peace offering."

"Wow," Matty drawled. "You thought missile codes would be a good way of saying sorry to a boss that you betrayed to the cops? How did he even find you if you were under a fake name?"

Vadim and Veronika looked at each other. "He must have cops on payroll," Veronika finally said. Matty nodded; that was the logical answer.

"Where can we find Vasiliev?"

Vadim shook his head. "We do not know. We were going to get the codes, then try to find him."

"Well you must have some way of getting in touch with him," Matty replied in a sickly-sweet voice. Veronika and Vadim both shook their heads. After a few more minutes of the exact same conversation, Matty turned and left the room, followed by Jack.

Bozer, Riley, and Anja came out of their room and met Jack and Matty in the hall.

"So what's the game plan?" Bozer asked. Matty looked at Riley.

"I need you to do whatever you can to find Scorpion. Hopefully we can find them before they meet Boris."

"What happens if we don't, and Boris realizes that he's got the wrong guy?" Bozer asked. Matty gave the young man a look that answered his question.

"Let's move, people," Matty snapped. "We don't have all day." Bozer and Riley took off to find Scorpion, and Anja stepped up to Matty and Jack.

"Anja, thank you for your help tonight. The Homesec office will be pleased to have their codes back," Matty said as she noticed the young woman.

"What can I do to help find MacGyver?" Anja asked, not wanting to be benched. Matty shook her head.

"I'm sorry, there's nothing you can do. I just need you to stay here for now. We'll get you on a plane home as soon as we can."

"I could help," Anja insisted. "I cannot go home yet."

"Anja, you're not a trained field agent. The only reason you went out there tonight was because this was supposed to be a simple grab. It's turned into anything _but_ that, and I'm not risking you out in the field. That's all I'm going to say on the subject," Matty said firmly.

Jack put his hand on Anja's shoulder as he walked past. "We'll bring him home safely," he promised. "Don't worry. Mac's been in tougher situations than this before."

 _0-0-0_

Mac felt the control returning to his arms, but they were still heavy and took more effort than normal to move. Suddenly the truck slowed down, and from the sudden bumpy terrain, Mac realized they were now off-roading, which meant the end of the journey was near. Despite how much effort it took, Mac began moving around as indiscreetly as he could, which, as he found out, wasn't that indiscreet when one was drugged. The hammer of a gun was cocked.

"Stop. Moving," Syl ordered.

"Let him be, babe," Tristan said soothingly. "He can't do nothin'. Besides, look. There's Vasiliev now."

A few seconds later, the truck came to a complete stop and Mac heard the truck doors open. There were footsteps, then the door next to Mac's head was opened and the blond's shoulders were grabbed. He was dragged out of the truck and dumped on the ground.

"Get him up," someone ordered in a thick Russian accent. Mac was grabbed again and hauled upright. Thankfully, he was gaining more control over his body by the minute, and he was actually able to hold himself up to a certain extent.

The hood was yanked off Mac's head, and the blond winced at the sudden light coming from the headlights. It was still dark outside, and as his eyes adjusted, and he looked up into the faces of several very angry looking men.

The man in charge, Vasiliev, stared at MacGyver in confusion and anger. "This is not Brushka," he insisted. Mac's forehead wrinkled as he heard the name. Who was Brushka? Vasiliev turned to Tristan, who up until that moment had had a very smug look on his face. As soon as the words left Vasiliev's mouth, the smirk disappeared off Scorpion's face.

"What do you mean? Of course it is!"

"You think I don't know what my own man looks like?" Vasiliev yelled, angry at being contradicted.

"I don't know," Tristan shot back, defensive. Some of the men surrounding Vasiliev suddenly changed their targets, pointing them at Tristan and Sylvia. As the two Americans held up their hands, Vasiliev bent down so he was staring MacGyver in the eyes.

"Who are you?" he asked quietly. MacGyver didn't answer; he simply stared right back into the eyes of his newest captor. Vasiliev smirked and straightened, giving a signal to one of his men. Mac knew what was coming next, and he braced himself as much as he could. When the punch landed on Mac's torso, it still hurt, but it wasn't as painful as Mac knew it could have been.

"Where is Viktor Brushka?" Vasiliev asked. MacGyver once again refused to answer, and this time it was his face that was punched. As Mac brought his head back around to stare ahead, he could feel the stinging cut on his cheek, but he still simply stared back into the cold eyes of whoever this Vasiliev guy was.

Vasiliev looked at Mac and chuckled. "This will be fun," he proclaimed, straightening back up. He nodded at one of his men again, and Mac tensed himself for another beating, but instead all the Russian said was, "Load him up. We do this somewhere more private."

Mac was yanked to his feet, and as he was led away, he heard Tristan protest.

"What about us?"

Mac turned his head as best he could and saw Vasiliev give the hacker a cold stare.

"Be happy I do not kill you for bringing me wrong man," he warned. "And that I left you with your lives."

Shots rang out, and for a moment Mac was worried that Tristan and Syl had been shot, but at their outraged cries, he realized Vasiliev had shot out their tires, leaving the couple stranded. The Russian said nothing else as he turned away, and Mac was again loaded into the back of a van, the black bag thrown over his head once more.

 _0-0-0_

Anja sat in the Phoenix war room, fidgeting. Matty had sent her there to make sure she stayed safe, and out of the way. Anja wasn't sure what was going on, but she'd been in the war room for over an hour, and hadn't heard from anyone. She didn't even know if anyone was still in the building. With a frustrated sigh, Anja stood up and began pacing, trying to decide if she should act on the idea she'd had. She was nervous, but she knew that if she wanted to help save MacGyver, she had to step up and do her part.

Finally making up her mind, Anja pulled out her phone. Unconsciously, she began biting her nails, like she always did when she was nervous. As she thumbed through her contacts, she stole a look out the window to make sure no one was watching her. She found the contact she was looking for and held the phone up to her ear as the line began ringing. Finally, someone picked up on the other end.

"Hugo?" she asked. "It's Anja. Remember that favor you owe me?"

 _0-0-0_

Anja hung up on Hugo and looked at the address he'd given her. After a few more moments, she hit Jack's number.

After three rings, it went to the agent's voicemail. She hung up and tried again, but got the same result. After waiting a few more minutes, she tried calling him a third time, but the outcome was still the same as before. Anja growled quietly in frustration as she waited to leave a voicemail.

"Jack, answer your phone!" she griped as soon as she could start talking. "This is third time I call you. Listen, I think I have idea where MacGyver is. A friend told me Vasiliev has cabin near Angeles Forest. Just...call me back," she added before hanging up.

She ended the message, then stared at her phone for a few seconds. She sat there for another moment, nervous about leaving and trying to rescue Mac on her own, but she knew he couldn't wait. She finally got up and left the war room, heading downstairs. When she left the building, she stepped out into the street and hailed a cab.

"Take me here," she said as she got in, handing the cabbie the piece of paper. The cabbie's eyebrows raised slightly.

"That's a ways out there, miss," he said. "It ain't gonna be cheap."

"You want me to find different car?" Anja asked, trying to hold back her impatience. The cabbie shrugged and turned back around, muttering something about it being her wallet. He pulled out into traffic, and just like that, they were off.

 _0-0-0_

Mac kept his mouth shut as Vasiliev's guards beat him. Each time a punch landed, he tried tightening the muscles to lessen the blow, but many times there were multiple shots at once, and soon the young agent was simply overwhelmed. Struggling against his captors didn't do much to help him get away, and was only rewarded by more beatings. Finally after what seemed like an eternity, Mac heard Vasiliev speak.

"Stop," the Russian ordered. The guards stepped away from MacGyver, leaving the blond panting as he recovered from the beating. The beatings had mostly been on his torso and gut, but he did have a few cuts and bruises on his face.

There were two guards holding Mac upright, but at a signal from Vasiliev, they let him go, and the American dropped to the floor, his bound hands barely stopping his fall. He stayed on the floor for less than two seconds before he pushed himself to his knees in determination, staring at Vasiliev in silence.

"Are you ready to talk yet?" Vasiliev asked, crossing his arms. In response, Mac spit a bit of blood off to the side. The Russian ground his teeth together in frustration, but quickly put on a smiling mask again. "This is fine. We leave you alone for a few minutes and see if you change your mind. If not…things might not be so pleasant for you."

"You know, you're not gonna get anything from me if you kill me," Mac panted, unable to hold back the quip. Vasiliev turned to him.

"So you do speak," he said in mock wonder. "Care to say anything else?"

Mac had taken his vow of silence again though, and Vasiliev's eyes narrowed slightly.

"We see how you feel in few minutes," he said again. The Russian jerked his head, and he and his guards walked out of the room. The door closed with a _clang_ , and after a few moments, MacGyver noticed how cool it was getting, and began seeing goosebumps popping up on his arms.

 _Lowering the temperature,_ he thought to himself. _They're trying to freeze the information out of me._

Judging by the rate of how cold he was suddenly feeling, Mac knew that it would only be a matter of time before he began to lose feeling in his extremities. He got up and moved around, trying to keep himself warm, but it was only a temporary fix. He needed a way to get out of the room now.

From what he could tell, they'd taken him to some sort of one-room cabin, secluded in the woods. There wasn't much inside the room with him, but there was a bed frame. It was missing a mattress, so laying down was out of the question, but it wasn't the resting functionality of the bed Mac was interested in. He made his way over to the piece of furniture, laid down on his back, and scooted the top half of his body underneath the bed. Getting his bound arms underneath was tricky and a bit tight, but he finally managed it.

There was a piece of metal sticking out from one of the springs on the bed, which Mac used to puncture holes in the tape binding his wrists. After putting several holes in close proximity to each other, Mac was finally able to pull on his wrists hard enough that the silver stuff ripped. Once he was free, and while he was trying to distract himself from how cold the room was getting, Mac started working on getting one of the thin springs loose. His fingers were numb and it was hard to get them working efficiently, but finally after a few minutes, Mac was holding a two-inch long spring in his hand that he proceeded to straighten out.

His ribs were begging with him to stop moving, but Mac knew that if he did that, he would freeze. Or be in for another beating. Whichever came first. After rubbing his arms to get the circulation going again, at least a little bit, Mac made his way over to the door. He glanced out the window and saw one guard standing watch. Mac knew that he'd have to take care of the guard quickly before he had the chance to alert Vasiliev or any of the others. He crouched down and prepared to pick the lock, but before he could finish, there was a grunt and a thud. Wrinkling his forehead in confusion, Mac moved back to the window and peered out. His eyebrows just about disappeared into his hairline when he saw who was outside, grabbing the keys from the belt loop from the downed guard.

The door was unlocked from the outside, but before Mac had a chance to open the door himself, it was shoved open with an unexpected force, and Anja ran in with a large branch held high. Mac jumped back, then winced and grabbed at his sore torso, which was berating him for his quick movements. Anja paused when she entered, then looked around and, after realizing that no one was inside with her besides her friend, she lowered the stick with a slightly embarrassed grin.

"Hello, MacGyver," she greeted.

"Hey," came Mac's surprised greeting. "What are you doing here?"

Anja held up the stick again. "I am rescuing you," she explained. She glanced at Mac's cut restraints on the floor. "Though I see I am a bit late to the saving part," she added with a small smile.

"No, no," Mac assured her. "This...this is more than I was expecting. What are you still doing here? Why didn't you go home, or at least stay at the Phoenix?"

Anja slanted her mouth at the agent. "I am just as capable as anyone else," she reminded him.

"No, that's not what I meant," Mac backtracked. "I just meant that you should be resting."

"I will rest when you do." Anja folded her arms and stared at her friend. Finally Mac held up his hands.

"You're right," he said. "Thank you for coming for me," he added sincerely. Anja nodded with a small grin before she turned back around.

"Come on," she beckoned. "I don't know how long guard will be out."

Mac followed his friend out into the open air, passing by the guard. "Hold on," he said to Anja as they passed the unconscious man. He pulled his belt off and bent down, wrapping it around the man's wrists. After that was done, he hoisted the man up as much as he could and dragged him around the house, hiding the guard under one of the bushes.

Finally he made his way back to Anja. He nodded. "Okay," he said. "That should buy us a few minutes hopefully."

"Hopefully?" Anja asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Well yeah, I mean he's not hidden that well, and no one even knows if they'll actually look for him before coming after-"

"MacGyver," Anja said, putting her hand on his arm. "I am teasing you," she explained. Mac chuckled, and with that, the two of them took off into the woods.

They hadn't been going very long when the two of them heard shouts coming from the direction of the cabin behind them. In silent agreement, they picked up the pace slightly.

"Still no service?" Mac asked. Anja, who was keeping her phone in her hand so they could know the moment they got in range, shook her head.

"Not yet," she answered. MacGyver continued looking around for anything he could use to send up some sort of a signal to get someone's attention. However, anything he could think of was too risky, since it would also potentially attract the attention of the people hunting them.

"I left message for Jack, but I have heard nothing from him," Anja said. Mac sighed.

"Hopefully he's heard the message by now and is on his way, but if he's not, we can't afford to wait." The blond looked around. "Come on," he said. "I think there's a service road this way."

"How do you know?"

"They got me to the cabin somehow, and only the last few minutes were bumpy enough to be off-road."

It made sense to Anja, and she walked next to Mac, constantly looking behind them to make sure that they were still ahead of their pursuers.

As they were walking, MacGyver suddenly stopped and looked at the ground.

"MacGyver?" Anja asked, turning back to look at him. The blond was crouching down to pick something up. When Anja saw what the agent was holding in his hands, she looked at him in concern. "Why are you picking up sosnovaya shishka?" she asked.

Mac held up the pinecone. "We can use these."

Anja looked at Mac with raised eyebrows. "MacGyver, I do not know how you come up with ideas, but if you think it will work, I trust you."

Mac looked at the tall pine he was standing by. "First thing we're gonna need is sap."

 _ **Okay, so a bit more whump in this chapter. I know it wasn't a lot, but there is something coming that I hope will be exciting *toothy grin***_

 _ **Anyway, whatcha think? I originally wasn't going to have the last part with Mac in this chapter, but I figured it fit better here. Sooooo...who loves Anja? :D**_

 ** _Lemme know what you guys think!_**


	5. Chapter 5

_**I do not own the characters, except for Anja because she is my child and I love her.**_

"Got anything, Ri?" Jack asked for what seemed like the billionth time. Riley turned to Jack in annoyance.

"As a matter of fact, yeah," she replied. "I was just about to call you over. Two people were found wandering on the side of the road, saying that they'd been mugged. The cops found their car, which had tires shot out. That was a little suspect, so they brought them to the station to get their statement, but they ran their plates. I've had a program running, scanning anything with the partial plates I got from the security camera, and-"

"And their shot-out truck matches?" Jack finished.

"Exactly. Plus the fact that the people they brought in were a man and a woman-"

"Which matches the profiles of our two missing hackers!" Jack said in excitement.

"Good work, Riley," Matty said. "Guys, go pick them up."

"The cops aren't gonna just give them to us, are they?" Bozer asked.

"You really forget who you're working for, don't you?" Jack asked with a smirk and a wink, already moving towards the door.

 _0-0-0_

Scorpion and his waitress girlfriend were waiting in the Phoenix Interrogation room. Riley stared at them through the screen hooked up to the camera inside the room. "That's Scorpion," she confirmed.

"Well, according to the facial rec we ran on them, we've got Tristan and Sylvia Peterson," Matty countered.

"Wow, so much less exciting. I woulda gone with a name like Scorpion too," Jack said with a grimace.

"We can talk about his naming choices after we get him to tell us where MacGyver is," Matty said. "He wasn't with them when they got picked up, which means they probably already gave him to their third party seller."

That made Jack's stomach sink. He began to move towards the door, but Matty stepped in front of him. "Uh uh, Dalton," she said. "You can't go in there."

"Matty, I can get them to talk," Jack insisted, not believing that Matty was benching him.

"You're gonna go in there all Jack Dalton style, and even if they talk, we wouldn't be able to trust what they tell us."

"That's not true!"

"Jack." Matty's voice was firm. "Do _not_ fight me on this. That never goes well for you." Without waiting for Jack to argue again, Matty turned and walked into the room alone, sealing the door behind her. Jack stared after her in anger.

"What are we doing here?" Tristan asked as the black-haired woman stalked in. Matty didn't respond, but she stared at the two of them.

"Who were you working for?" she asked quietly.

"What are you talking about?" Tristan asked innocently. Matty's eyes narrowed. She tossed a file down on the table.

"We know who you are," Matty stated as Tristan and Sylvia began leafing through the papers, eerily similar to the way the Borcheks had earlier.

"You can't confirm any of this," Tristan said, though he seemed quite shaken.

"Oh, I actually can," Matty said. "I've got someone who knows what you look like, and they've confirmed that all of this is you."

Tristan looked confused. Before he could put the pieces together that it was Riley who gathered all the information, as well as being the witness Matty was talking about, the director of the Phoenix continued speaking.

"You're looking at minimum of ten years for your hacking alone," she said. "That's before you add in kidnapping, and selling of stolen US information to foreign buyers."

At that, Tristan looked much less comfortable, and he traded looks with Sylvia. "Okay," he finally said. "We had someone offer a lot of money for us to deliver Vadim Borchek."

"Only it wasn't Borchek," Matty said.

"Yeah, we found that out when we made the trade," Tristan admitted.

"Where did they go?" Matty asked, not letting her anger and worry for Mac show on her face.

"Man, I don't know," Tristan said, suddenly becoming very whiny. "They took him, shoved him in the back of a van, shot out our tires, and left. They didn't even pay us."

"I'm sure it was a terrible loss," Matty said, sarcastically. "Where did they take him?"

"I'm serious lady, I don't know!" Tristan insisted. Matty stared at him, trying to gauge whether he was telling the truth or not.

 _0-0-0_

Jack paced around the room he was waiting in, which very quickly began grating on Riley's nerves.

"Jack," she said finally, turning around in her seat. "Matty knows what she's doing. She'll get them to talk." Her words didn't seem to do much to calm Jack down, so she added, "Why don't you go check on on Anja? It's been awhile since we've updated her. We should let her know that we got the people who drugged her."

Jack didn't look too happy about it, but he finally decided to listen to Riley. "Fine," he grumbled. He turned and stopped his way out of the room, glancing back and giving one last withering look to the hacker and his girlfriend on Riley's screen. He grumbled again before he left, stalking towards the war room where they'd put Anja.

When Jack reached the war room, he stopped and took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down. Finally, he reached out and grabbed the knob, pushing the door open.

"Okay, Anja," he said as he walked in the room. "Got good new and bad-" He stopped short when he suddenly realized that the room was empty, and he was talking to no one. "Anja?" After double checking to make sure that she really wasn't in the room, maybe hiding behind the couches or something, Jack stepped out of the room and grabbed a nearby girl walking through the hall.

"Hey, hey," he said, pulling her over. "You didn't happen to see where the girl in this room went, did you?" he asked. The agent shook her head apologetically and gently extracted herself from Jack's grip. Jack asked a few more people, but no one had seen where Anja had gone. Jack was trying to stay calm, but he'd lost Mac, and now Anja was gone too. He pulled out his phone to call the Russian, but paused when he saw that he had three missed calls, as well as a voicemail from the woman himself.

He began listening to the message she'd left him, and his eyes widened as he heard what Anja had to say. He turned around and booked it back down the stairs towards interrogation. He knew where Mac was.

 _0-0-0_

"You sure we should not be moving?" Anja asked, looking at MacGyver slightly skeptically.

"They've got at least one car," Mac said. "Even with our headstart, they'd catch up with us too fast. We need to even the playing field a little bit."

"And we will do this with pinecones?"

Mac chuckled. He knew how crazy he sounded. "That's the idea," he confirmed.

The two of them were sitting behind a large tree, waiting and listening for any sign of the Russians coming from the service road that Mac and Anja had indeed found, just like Mac had figured they would. Suddenly, Mac heard the distinct sound of tires going over loose rocks, as well as the gentle rumble of a car engine.

"Here they come," he said quietly, pulling out two rocks he'd found that would work fairly well as a flint. "Remember: the minute we throw them, we have to run," he explained for what Anja felt was the thousandth time.

"I know, MacGyver," she promised him. She held up the sap-drenched pine cone. "Aim for under van, yes?"

Mac nodded. "Right. The sap will keep the fire burning when it flies through the air, and once the fire hits the van, it won't be long before-"

"Kaboom," Anja finished.

"Kaboom," Mac confirmed with a smile.

They waited a few more moments until the van appeared in their vision. As soon as it came into view, Mac nodded at Anja, and the both stood up and began tossing flaming pinecones at the approaching vehicle.

When the flaming projectiles hit the ground, the Russians did exactly what Mac wanted them to do and stopped.

"Time to run," he said quickly, grabbing Anja's hand and pulling her behind him. They'd hidden themselves a decent ways from the road, enough to give them some semblance of a headstart, but bullets were faster than either of them. As they began running, a loud shot rang out, and Anja let out a cry as she fell to the ground.

 _ ***hides behind bulletproof glass* PLEASE DON'T KILL ME!**_

 _ **So uh...what did you think? :D**_

 _ **Also, the next update may take a few days. I've been super swamped with work and catching up on shows, and I haven't had as much time to write as I've wanted, so it may take a little longer to get the next update up. Not too long, just a couple extra days at the most, but just as a warning :)**_

 _ **Lemme know what you think!**_


	6. Chapter 6

_***Awkward grin* 'allo... yes, I shot my child...please don't hurt me XD**_

 ** _There's only one chapter after this, so :( Or maybe :) if you don't like the story XD_**

 _ **Characters are not mine, except for Anja, whom I love, even though it may not seem like it based on the last chapter :D**_

Mac's eyes widened as he watched his friend collapse. He immediately spun on his heel and crouched down next to Anja, looking up to see how far away the Russians were. They were approaching the two, but suddenly Mac's flaming pine cones did their trick, and the vehicle Vasiliev and his men had been driving exploded, sending shrapnel everywhere. Mac covered Anja with his body and winced as he felt some of the shrapnel slice across his back. Warm blood began slowly trickling its way out of the wound, but as he tried to relieve pain from the slash, it just made the pain in his torso from his earlier beatings remind him that they were there too.

The surprised shouts from the Russians made Mac look up, and he saw that they were all distracted by the burning car, at least for a moment. The blond straightened, trying to ignore his own pain as he helped Anja up.

"Where'd they get you?" he asked. He saw the young woman clutching at her left side, just below her ribcage, but before he could see anything else, Anja moved.

"I am fine," she insisted, pushing Mac's worried hand away. "We need to go, now."

Mac knew she was right, but he also knew gunshot wounds shouldn't be taken lightly. He was about to say something, but Anja simply began moving through the trees, though Mac could see her moves were jerky.

Not feeling the most fluid himself, the agent took off after her. However, as he quickly caught up to his friend, he knew that their pursuers wouldn't be far behind, and with how slow they were going due to their injuries, they'd be caught within five minutes if they didn't do something.

Thankfully, it was getting dark, and Mac knew that would make it harder to track them. Quietly, he tapped Anja's shoulder and motioned for him to follow. Every few steps, he would change direction. Zig zagging their way through the forest would help keep the men confused for a few minutes, at least long enough for Mac and Anja to get somewhere and hunker down for the time being.

After running for a few minutes, slower than Mac found comfortable, he finally pulled his friend to a stop.

"We gotta climb," he said, wrapping his arm around his sore torso. He could feel the blood dripping down his back, but he couldn't pay attention to it at the moment. Anja looked at Mac, and though she looked strong and determined, Mac knew her adrenaline was going to wear off soon. He needed to get her resting. "Come on," he said. "We're almost there. I'm gonna help you into the tree, but you have to grab and hold on. Then I'll climb up and pull you the rest of the way up."

Anja nodded, and Mac cupped his hands together. When Anja put her weight in his hands, the blond fought the urge to groan as his injuries protested. Gritting his teeth together, he began lifting, and Anja was soon able to grab a sturdy looking branch. Instead of waiting and holding on like Mac had instructed though, she continued to climb higher into the tree until she was high enough that it was hard to see her. MacGyver didn't try to stop her.

When Anja was finally settled on the thick branch, she looks down at MacGyver. "How will you get up?" she called quietly.

"Can you toss down your belt?" he asked. There was a confused silence, but after a few moments Mac heard the belt falling through the the branches. With the light fading fast, Mac was worried that it would smack him in the face, but thankfully he spotted it and was able to catch it.

Pulling off his own belt, he hooked the two straps together and slung them around the trunk of the tree. Grabbing either end in his hands, Mac began climbing his way up the trunk.

By the time he got to the lowest branch, the one Anja had grabbed first, he was sweating and his torso and back were aching. He rested for a minute when he reached the branch, but suddenly he heard noises coming through the forest, and he knew that he was still too visible. Pushing past his pain, he turned and grabbed the nearest branch and hoisted himself up, slowly bringing himself closer to Anja.

With a few moments to spare, Mac finally reached the same branch as his friend, and she helped pull him up next to her. He immediately put a finger to his lips, though it was hard to see in the twilight.

The two of them froze and barely breathed as the men hunting them passed underneath, speaking to each other in Russian. Mac's Russian was rusty, but the things he understood did not make him feel any better about their situation. They were talking about bringing in more manpower to help them search through the night.

Eventually their noisy pursuers got further and further away, allowing Mac and Anja to finally relax. Mac looked at his friend, whose hand was still covering her injury.

"We need to keep pressure on that wound," he said, pulling off his very battered cummerbund and balling it up before handing it to the young woman. He was suddenly very grateful for the fact that he'd been abducted in his tux.

"You are hurt too," Anja said, shaking her head and trying to push Mac's hand away.

"Anja," MacGyver said, his mouth slanting in frustration. "I wasn't _shot_."

When the Russian still refused to take the cummerbund, the blond sighed. He unhooked their belts from each other, then turned around and grabbed a fistful of leaves.

It was the middle of summer, so thankfully there were plenty of leaves on the tree. Mac handed Anja back her belt.

"This is the best I can do to stop my bleeding," he said, holding up the leaves and his belt. "I'm not worried about me, I'm more worried about your wound getting infected. I don't have anything to cauterize it with."

"Let me help," Anja said, reaching out to take the leaves and belt, but MacGyver held them out of her reach.

"We're taking care of you first," he insisted, his tone letting her know that he wasn't going to budge until she was patched up. After a moment, Anja finally consented. MacGyver took the belt and handed her the cummerbund.

"Hold it in place," he instructed. "Once I put the belt over it, you can let go, but make sure it stays over the wound."

Anja did as instructed, and soon there was a makeshift bandage and tourniquet helping slow Anja's bleeding. Once MacGyver let go of the belt, Anja twirled her finger at her friend.

"Your turn," she stated. "Turn around."

Despite the circumstances, MacGyver couldn't help the small chuckle that escaped his lips. "Yes ma'am," he said, turning himself around slowly so that his back was facing Anja. The young woman took the leaves and balled them together, then pressed them against the slice on Mac's back.

"You have your belt?" she asked. Mac held up the belt, even though it was nearly impossible to see it. "Good. Wind it around yourself," she said, taking her turn to instruct her friend. Mac passed the belt around his back, and with her free hand, Anja helped guide it back around to the front, and soon Mac was tightening the belt around his own chest, holding the makeshift bandage in place.

Once that was done, MacGyver turned himself back around on the branch carefully so that his back was facing the trunk of the tree.

"What do we do now?" Anja asked quietly. In the distance, MacGyver could still hear the men faintly, and he knew that he and Anja were too slow on the ground to outrun them.

"Wait for a bit, then get down and get back to the road, see if we can send some sort of signal," Mac answered. Anja nodded.

"You should get some rest," Mac added. Anja looked at him.

"Where?"

"Turn around," he instructed. Anja raised her eyebrow, though it was dark and MacGyver couldn't actually see the gesture. "I won't let you fall," he promised after listening to the silence for a moment.

Finally Anja began to turn around, until her back was facing her friend. He reached out and grabbed her shoulders gently, pulling her back until she was resting against him. She was tense at first, but after a minute she relaxed. MacGyver leaned back into the trunk of the tree so that he was in a reclining position, giving him and Anja both more comfort as they sat there. It also applied even more pressure to his own wound to help it stop bleeding, since Mac wasn't actually sure how much good the leaves were doing.

Even though Mac's chest started aching even more with the added pressure of Anja, he didn't say anything, and he didn't shift. At the moment, her comfort was more important than his. Soon he felt his friend relax deeper and deeper until she was breathing more evenly than she had been the entire night, though there was still a slight hitch every time she breathed in.

From what MacGyver had been able to see of the wound, he didn't think any vital organs had been hit, but it wasn't a simple graze. Mac knew that the longer they waited, the more chance the wound had to become infected and turn septic. However, he also knew that moving Anja at the moment wasn't a smart idea, what with the men still chasing them and all.

 _Besides,_ Mac reasoned to himself. _She needs the rest._

After a few minutes, it became apparent that Anja wasn't the only one who needed the rest, and despite his best attempts to stay awake, he eventually drifted off to sleep himself.

 _0-0-0_

A loud buzzing woke MacGyver and Anja up suddenly. Apparently being up that high finally allowed her cell phone to get service. However, the buzzing was so unexpected that both of them jumped, and the phone, which had been sitting on Anja's lap, fell. Thirty feet later, Mac and Anja stared at the device, now on the ground, still lighting up with an incoming call.

Mac winced as the sudden movement exacerbated his wounds, which had been enjoying the break they'd been having while he slept. Pushing past his soreness, Mac looked around and noticed that it was still dark. They hadn't been asleep for very long then. However, the cell phone was still ringing, and it lit up like a beacon in the night. Thankfully the sound was turned off, but the buzzing seemed unnaturally loud in the quiet of the night.

They both held their breath, hoping that the noise had only seemed loud to them. After a moment, Mac let his breath out silently, but he'd celebrated too early. As Anja turned around to look at him, Mac suddenly caught movement out of the corner of his eye, and he grabbed Anja's shoulders gently, preventing her from moving. When she gave him an inquisitive look, he inclined his head slightly, and she followed his gaze. She spotted the man down below, and she nodded in understanding. It was hard to see him, and Mac realized that he probably actually wouldn't have seen him moving around if it hadn't been for the bright cell phone screen. It was impossible to tell who it was, but Mac wasn't going to take any chances.

Suddenly, Anja's bent over, clutching at her stomach. A small moan escaped her lips, despite her efforts to remain silent. MacGyver was worried for his friend, and he gripped her shoulders to try and provide support, but when he glanced down at the man below them, he saw their pursuer staring up. It didn't seem like he'd actually spotted them yet, but Mac knew that they'd been found. The Russian man let out a shout as he trained his gun on the tree, though he didn't quite aim it at the two agents, giving away that he still couldn't see them.

Desperately, MacGyver looked around for something he could drop or throw at the man, but before he could, there was a sudden crash through the underbrush, and Vasiliev and his men came out as well. One of them turned a flashlight on and shined it up into the tree, illuminating the people they were chasing.

All the guns were aimed up, now pointed directly at the two of them.

"I'm impressed," Vasiliev called up to MacGyver, giving them a slow clap. "But game is over now. Come down now, and we will make your friend's death painless. Or, I should say less painless than now."

Anja was still curled in on herself, and Mac knew that if he didn't get her help soon, things were going to get real bad, real fast.

The blond noticed the hair tie keeping Anja's hair in a ponytail, and he reached forward.

"I'll get you a new one," he promised as he removed it from her hair. She didn't respond, which concerned Mac, but he knew that there wasn't much he could for her unless they got to the ground. He reached up and grabbed a stick from the branch above him, but as he was preparing his contraption, there was a bunch of yelling suddenly, and more lights flooded the area. The Russians seemed just as confused as Mac was, but that was good, because their confusion meant that no weapons were fired, and Mac was able to pull himself and Anja back further against the tree as far as they could.

The two groups on the ground began shouting at each other, but Mac clearly recognized one of the voices, and a feeling of relief swept over him. Within a few minutes, the Phoenix agents had Vasiliev and his men in custody, and soon a ladder was brought in to help the two treed people down.

"She needs a hospital," MacGyver said as an agent appeared on the ladder, gently transferring his friend into the agent's waiting arms. Anja seemed to be pretty out of it, but she clung to MacGyver, as if she were afraid to let go. He muttered assuring words to his friend until she finally let him go, and then he followed down the ladder himself, trying not to let on how sore he was. Anja was the one who needed attention; he could get himself looked at aftertwords.

When he reached the ground, he made his way over to Jack, and both of them watched as Anja was carried away.

"You traced her phone?" Mac asked Jack, bending down and picking up his friend's now-shattered phone from the ground.

"Yeah. Plus, it's really quiet out here, and once we heard shouting, it wasn't very hard to find you guys."

Mac nodded, and Jack shined a light in his friend's face. Mac winced, knowing that his face was a wide variety of colors.

"C'mon," the older agent said, trying to steer Mac in the direction Anja had been taken. "You're goin' to get checked out too."

"I'm fine," the blond insisted.

"Do _not_ make me throw you over my shoulder and carry you there myself," Jack threatened. Mac stared at his friend, unsure if he would actually go through with his threat. Finally deciding it wasn't worth risking the pain, Mac nodded.

"Fine, fine," he conceded, holding out his hands in surrender and walking forward. After a minute, he looked over at Jack. "Thanks for coming, man."

Jack brought his hand up to clap his friend on the shoulder, but Mac held up his own hand to stop him. Jack took that as an opportunity to high-five his friend and replied, "Any time, brother."

 _ **Okay, only one short chapter left. Whatcha think?**_

 _ **Also, I've got a tag to the finale that I'm working on. I'm thinking it's going to be a couple chapters, nothing super long, but I should have it up soon!**_


	7. Chapter 7

_**Last chapter :( I'm sorry for those of you who wanted it to go longer... I just didn't want it to feel like it was dragging on...**_

 _ **We know the drill, the only person I own is Anja. Also, to the guest reviewer, I'm sorry you wanted less Anja XD I'm sorry there was more of her than you wanted, but I'm glad you stuck with the story anyway :)**_

 ** _That also goes to everyone, I'm super grateful for all of your comments and follows and favs, they really do help keep me going :)_**

 ** _More AN at the bottom, but for now, let's get this chapter started finally XD_**

MacGyver sat on the one nice chair in the room next to Anja's bed, dozing off as he waited for her to wake up. The doctors had told him that she would be waking up soon, and he wanted to be there when she did, just to provide a familiar face. However, it was taking longer than he had thought, and the last time he'd slept was that moment in the tree with Anja, and that was only an hour at most.

He continued drifting in and out of consciousness for the next several minutes, until he heard the woman next to him let out a gentle sigh, and suddenly his eyes were wide open. Her eyes fluttered open and she looked around, and when she didn't recognize where she was, her heart rate began spiking on the monitor.

"Anja, hey," Mac said, putting a hand on her arm. Her gaze shot over to him lightning fast, but when she realized who it was, her breathing began evening out, and she gave him a small smile. "You're at the hospital, you're fine," he assured her. Anja glanced around the room again and realized her friend was right.

"Vasiliev?" she asked. Mac smiled back and nodded.

"Got 'em all," he assured her.

"That is good," she said sleepily.

"Hey," MacGyver added before she could fall back asleep. "I never said thank you for coming to get me."

Anja scoffed gently and rolled her eyes. "Yes, some hero I turn out to be," she said beratingly to herself. "You are one saving me from everything, and then I get shot."

"Hey," MacGyver said, wagging his finger at her. "No one talks about my friend like that. Besides, you did better than me on my first solo op," he added. Anja quirked an eyebrow at that.

"What happened?"

"Technically it's classified, but it involved a weathervane, copper wire, and a disgraced MI6 agent."

That made Anja chuckle, and Mac followed suit, until Anja began coughing, then they both stopped.

"The bullet missed anything vital," he informed her. "It was through and through. You're gonna be just fine."

"Only thanks to you," she said with a grateful smile.

"Stop," Mac said, shaking his head at her in mock exasperation. She smiled back at him playfully, but then it transitioned into awkward grimace.

"What does Matty say about me leaving?"

Mac shrugged. "She's not especially happy, but what she put on her report was that you went for a walk and stumbled upon Vasiliev's cabin. Unofficially, she says she would have done the same thing. Coming from Matty, that's high praise."

Anja nodded, then after a moment of comfortable silence, she took in a deep breath and closed her eyes, settling back into the pillows as she prepared to fall back asleep.

"Maybe next time we just hang out together, da?" Anja suggested tiredly as she rolled over onto her uninjured side. Mac chuckled.

"Yeah," he agreed. "I'd be okay with that."

With a content sigh and smile, Anja fell back asleep. MacGyver sat there a moment longer, then stood up and walked out of the medical center.

He made his way to the war room, moving slower than normal thanks to the stiffness in his back and torso. His shrapnel injury had required stitches, but the rest of his injuries were superficial, and would go away in a few days.

He opened the door to the war room and came upon Matty, Riley, Jack and Bozer waiting for him.

"How's Anja?" Bozer asked.

"She's fine," Mac replied. "Woke up for a minute, but she's asleep again."

"Which is where you _should_ be," Jack griped. MacGyver shook his head.

"I'm fine, Jack," he insisted.

"I actually agree with Dalton on this one, Mac," Matty said. Jack's eyebrows raised. "Don't say anything," Matty warned without even looking at the older agent. Jack shut his mouth, but was still giving Matty a smug 'I was right' look behind her back. "Wipe that look off your face Dalton, or I'll do it myself," Matty threatened, once again without turning around.

Jack pouted, but he did as Matty ordered.

"Mac, just go home, take it easy," Matty instructed. "I think the world can survive a few days without you, but if we do need you, we'll call you in."

MacGyver hesitated. He didn't _want_ to leave, but the more he thought about it, the more he realized how tired he was. His body was begging him to just take a minute and rest. Finally, the agent nodded.

"I'll be back tomorrow," he stated. Matty narrowed her eyes at him.

"Make it the day after and I won't make Jack go check on you to make sure you're bedridden," she compromised. Mac chuckled, but he nodded.

"Fine," he agreed.

"Thank you," Matty replied. Mac stood there for a moment, and Matty raised her eyebrows at him. "The longer you stay here, the longer I'm going to deny your access card to the building, Blondie."

"Come on," Jack said. "I'll take you home." He guided his friend through the door, and together, the two of them made their way to Jack's car.

"Think she'd actually block my key card?" Mac asked jokingly as he and Jack got in the car. Jack raised his eyebrows at his friend.

"Oh, I guarantee she's already locked you out for the next two days," Jack confirmed. Mac wasn't sure if Jack was joking or not; sometimes it was really hard to tell with him, especially when it came to Matty. As Jack revved the engine and took off towards Mac's house, MacGyver leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes.

The gentle hum of the engine, along with the smooth road they were traveling, soon put MacGyver in a more relaxed state than he'd been in the past few days. As he began drifting off, he made a promise to himself that he was going to call Anja soon.

Jack looked over at his friend as the blond drifted off to sleep. He didn't want to admit it to Mac, but Jack had actually been really worried about the blond, no matter how calm and cool Jack pretended to be. It was good to have Mac back, and even though he was being stubborn and refusing to see someone after he got stitched up, that was just Mac. And honestly, Jack wouldn't change a thing.

 _ **Also, this should come as no surprise to any of you that I suck at endings. So I'm sorry this was so bad XD I also feel like Mac was OOC, so apologies for that as well...**_

 _ **But! As I was saying earlier, thank you to everyone for your support on this story! I've got my season finale tag (Which I'm still trying to figure out how long to make it), and like, three other stories for MacGyver that I'm currently working on, so hopefully I'll be back soon!**_

 _ **Until I am back though, I hope you all have a fantastic time, and I will see you when I see you!**_


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